Suh ejected, Lions dejected

Thursday

Nov 24, 2011 at 12:01 AMNov 24, 2011 at 11:00 PM

DETROIT (AP) ? Ndamukong Suh was on the ground, entangled with the Green Bay lineman who had blocked him down. As Suh got up, the Detroit All-Pro pinned Evan Dietrich-Smith's head against the turf, then was pushed off of him.

From Archive Data

DETROIT (AP) — Ndamukong Suh was on the ground, entangled with the Green Bay lineman who had blocked him down. As Suh got up, the Detroit All-Pro pinned Evan Dietrich-Smith's head against the turf, then was pushed off of him.

What happened next will only fuel the discussion about whether Suh's aggressive play too often crosses the line.

Suh stepped down hard with his right foot, appearing to make contact with Dietrich-Smith's right arm, and the Detroit star was ejected from the Lions' 27-15 loss to the unbeaten Packers on Thursday. As much as the Lions have accomplished this season, this was another Thanksgiving nightmare, full of injuries, turnovers and undisciplined play.

"I want to apologize to my teammates, my coaches and my true fans for allowing the refs to have an opportunity to take me out of this game," Suh said. "What I did was remove myself from the situation the best way I felt, with me being held down."

Suh apologized, but the powerful defensive tackle was quick to defend himself, saying he was trying to keep his balance while freeing himself from the brief scuffle.

"My intention was not to kick anybody, as I did not, removing myself," he said. "I was on top of a guy, being pulled down, and trying to get up off the ground — and why you see me pushing his helmet down, because I'm trying to remove myself from the situation, and as I'm getting up, I'm getting pushed, so I'm getting myself on balance."

Suh's third-quarter dismissal helped turn a close game into a rout. It came on third down when the Lions appeared to have forced Green Bay to settle for a short field goal. Instead, the Packers scored a touchdown moments later, taking a 14-0 lead on John Kuhn's 1-yard run.

It was 24-0 at the start of the fourth, and although the Lions (7-4) scored a couple late touchdowns, they lost on Thanksgiving for the eighth straight time.

Detroit had a daunting enough task against the Packers (11-0). Then the Lions lost two starting defensive backs early in the game, when cornerback Chris Houston and safety Louis Delmas left with knee injuries. Cornerback Brandon McDonald was also helped off in the second half.

Kevin Smith, who had given the Detroit running game a much-needed boost last weekend when he ran for 140 yards against Carolina, went down with a right ankle injury. He said an X-ray was negative.

Coach Jim Schwartz said he didn't know how many of the injuries are long term.

"Too early to say," he said. "But let's be optimistic. Let's hope none of them are."

The Lions committed 11 penalties for 82 yards, including three important ones when they were in Green Bay territory early on. Matthew Stafford threw for 276 yards and a touchdown, but he was also intercepted three times.

"I still do feel like we match up really well against those guys," the Detroit quarterback said. "We didn't play our best. We didn't get a bunch of the breaks today."

Aaron Rodgers threw two touchdown passes. His 3-yarder to Greg Jennings with 4:51 left in the first half made it 7-0.

The Packers drove deep into Detroit territory in the third quarter, and Suh's ejection led to their second touchdown.

Now the league will have to decide whether more discipline — be it a fine, a suspension or both — is merited in this case.

"I can't speak on that," Suh said. "I don't have a decision in that."

In August, Suh was fined a third time for roughing up a quarterback after grabbing Cincinnati's Andy Dalton and throwing him to the turf after he had gotten rid of the ball in a preseason game. He was fined last season for hits on Chicago's Jay Cutler during the regular season and Cleveland's Jake Delhomme in the preseason.

Suh's day ended early Thursday, although he disputed the notion that he'd stepped on another player intentionally.

"Not by any means. I understand, in this world, because of the type of player and the type of person I am, all eyes are on me. So why would I do something to jeopardize myself and jeopardize my team, first and foremost?" Suh said. "I did push his helmet multiple times because he's holding on to me. He's grabbing me. That's the reason I'm on top of him and I'm not at the quarterback, because I'm being held down by him and so I'm pushing him off of me."

Rodgers threw a 65-yard touchdown pass to James Jones to make it 21-0. Detroit's Keiland Williams scored on a 16-yard run, and Stafford threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Calvin Johnson with 11 seconds left in the game.

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